Study Architecture 
ProPEL A Message from ACSA
The 113th Annual Business Meeting on March 5 was ACSA’s first opportunity to publicly address the decision to halt work on issue 79.2 of the Journal of Architectural Education titled Palestine. We invite members who have not read the written report following the meeting to do so here. The board acknowledges the disagreement and disappointment among members with the decision, as well as voices of understanding and support.
ACSA is an international membership association that represents more than 200 schools and 7,000 faculty in many different settings globally, teaching across a broad professional and disciplinary curriculum. The organization is committed to providing inclusive venues for scholarship and its core values including equity and justice.
Further, we aim to continue efforts to support a more diverse student and faculty body, leading conversations about the current and future impact of architectural education, building relationships across the broader field of architecture, and providing space for research and scholarship that support diverse points of view. We recognize, however, that the organization must continue to demonstrate our commitment to equity and justice, and invite faculty to join us in this work.
Actions ACSA Will Take
The ACSA commits to the following initial steps to start to repair relationships in the organization.
1. Create spaces at the 113th Annual Meeting in New Orleans to discuss the complex and serious issues facing colleges and universities as a community.
- ACSA remains committed to the work of taking on difficult topics in ways that bring the community together in order to advance these topics in our schools and universities. Halting the journal call for papers does not mean we stop discussing or advancing work on dispossession, conflict, and settler-colonialism in the Middle East and around the world.
We also understand that not all members will attend the conference, and will provide other discussion opportunities.
2. Initiate a special committee charged with surveying members, assessing the political landscape, and developing a strategy to guide future decisions and programs, so that ACSA can continue to address questions of equity and justice in ways that include diverse voices and navigate the complex landscape of statutory obligations, executive actions, and judicial orders.
3. Create a task force that includes individuals outside of architecture to assess the ACSA board’s and JAE editorial board’s decisions, processes, and structures that led to the call for papers and subsequent halt of the issue. The task force will also examine how peer organizations manage scholarly publications. This analysis will enable the task force to make recommendations on processes and policies related to ACSA’s journals.
4. Partner with and support organizations that resist efforts to damage higher education and limit free speech and academic freedom. These engagements will inform the membership as well as the board of directors, which will assess ACSA’s role as a membership association supporting stakeholders across architectural education.
5. Affirm the legal footing of existing programs to support equity and inclusion in architectural education. ACSA will continue our established grant and fellowship programs in accordance with their original intentions.
As We Continue Forward
We understand that deepening divisions have made conversations and compromise very challenging. The ACSA board is troubled by pressures and pointed attacks on members and staff. We will continue to encourage civil discussions about the organization’s decisions, acknowledging differing viewpoints while striving for collaborative solutions during this challenging time.
The ACSA Board of Directors will provide updates to the membership on our next steps. If you have interest in supporting any of these initiatives or have questions or comments, we invite members to email info@acsa-arch.org.
